First Time Dog Owner Tips

1. First Time Dog Owner Tips I recently spoke with a lovely couple, Tati and Kenny, owners of the very popular Woodlands Doggie Village (https://woodlandsdogboarding.com/) located in Spring, TX (just north of Houston) to get some good advice to share concerning training your very first pup. This list below contains basic techniques that anyone can handle. So, without further ado, here are first time dog owner tips. This is your first dog and you are concerned with not only training your dog, but getting the theories behind different methods and why they are used. This is important to understanding your dog and how it responds to training. This article will provide specific tips and tricks and give you the overall basics on dog training. Reprimands should be delivered quickly and in a sharp tone. Avoid going on a rant about the dog's "badness". Say no and give them a command to do the right thing. Do not scream, but rather use a loud and firm voice so they understand that you are serious. Dogs should continue to be trained throughout their lives. Many owners think that once a dog is trained, he's trained forever. This simply isn't true. Daily reinforcement by reminding your dog of simple commands, exposing him to new people and providing positive reinforcement is important. This will keep your dog well behaved and allow him to remain a happy member of the family. Dog training is not something that is easy to do properly, which means you should do your homework. Learning how to train your dog is almost as important as learning about dog behaviors and how they interact in a pack. Knowing what your dog expects from a pack leader makes training the animal much easier.

2. Show your dog that you love them and are proud of them. It's easy in dog training to focus on the negative and try to show your dog that what they are doing is wrong. Make sure that you also work to accentuate the positive and praise them when they are doing well. House training your puppy can be a lot faster and more effective using a crate. The crate should never be used for punishment. The puppy should be put in it at night and in between times of interaction with his owner. His natural instinct is to not relieve himself in his sleeping area. Dog training can be frustrating. If you have found yourself to be upset because you are not making progress, go ahead and take a break before trying it again. The dog is always watching you and learning, so if it can see you are upset it will react in a similar manner. Make sure you are feeding your dog high-quality food. Behavior problems are often caused by a poor diet. High-quality dog food has human-grade ingredients and an expiration date. Making sure your dog eats plenty of protein and avoid giving him "junk" food from the table. A well-fed dog is a happy, obedient dog. Use your puppy's name often so that he knows to pay attention when you speak. Use it often in the early days of training, so your pup learns that he should pay attention to you when you call his name. It is important to use a name the dog easily understands. When getting a new dog it is important to create a bond between the owner and the dog. One of the best ways to build this bond is by taking the dog on long walks at least two or three times a week. This activity creates a link between owner and pet and will also provide valuable training time. Food is one of the best positive reinforcement tools available to the owner in the dog training process. Feeding a dog after it has behaved acceptably is a powerful message that any dog will understand. Of course, dogs should not be starved! But associating feeding time with success will encourage a dog to work harder to live up to its owner's expectations. When puppies are little, they might develop biting habits which can easily be solved by placing a chew toy by your dog’s mouth whenever he or she begins to nip at you. This will quickly teach your puppy that it is allowed to bite at toys but not at you. Wrapping this up, it is important to know the basic theories and methods used to train your dog. This will give you a better overall view of why you must train in certain ways, and why your dog will react as it does. After getting basic understanding, you should be able to train your dog successfully. Oh, one more thing. Since Tati and Kenny were so nice to share this info with me so that I could pass it on to you, let any of your Houston-area friends and family know about their amazing, open-play Spring dog boarding and daycare services they offer. Now get out there and train your new dog!